Why join a small church?

A Christian married couple I know of had to move out of London and leave their church to go north with the husband’s job.

Much to the surprise of some of their long-term Christian pals they began attending the little and very local Anglican church in the village to which they had moved. The friends of the couple had concerns. The church was small, the teaching was not heretical but it was not great, and there was nothing there for their four children.

How could we drive past?

It was while talking through these concerns one evening with one of their friends that the husband made a comment which was highly significant. He said, ‘How could we drive past one church to go to another?’ They felt, before God, they just could not do it.

They refused to dismiss the little church because it was in a poorly state. Over time, they approached the vicar and with his blessing began to run a Sunday school in parallel with the morning service for their children and the children of one other family. From there things began to take off. The church grew a little and when they had to move away three years later they left behind Christian friends who had been really encouraged by their involvement.

Imprudent?

There was a cost to them taking this difficult option to join a small fellowship. But certainly a blessing resulted for that church. While not a comfortable or ‘prudent’ thing to do, getting involved in a struggling church may be a real mission from the Lord. It can be significant in shaping that church’s future and encouraging others to join. Just a few extra young single people or just one or two families, can make all the difference.

To join a big and thriving church is not always wrong, but it is frequently the easy option. To join a little needy congregation is not a decision to be taken lightly. It will probably require far more guts, love, resilience and spiritual exertion. But how the devil would love to herd Christians into a few big city centre churches, getting them to travel miles from their communities, and leaving vast tracts of our country with no viable witness for the gospel.

God’s agenda

God loves to do things which the world has written off as impossible. That is his trademark (Luke 1.37). In particular, when God does something wonderful he likes to start with something so small; something that people don’t even notice. In encouraging you to join a small church I am inviting you to get on board God’s agenda.

So, Christian, let me set out seven reasons for you to throw in your lot with a little church.

1. The big churches can spare you

We thank God for the big churches of our nation. There are great ministries of great Bible expositors who are so helpful to so many and hence a large congregation comes together. But those same great preachers would agree that the last thing in the world they are seeking to do is to build their own empires or make their hearers spiritually dependent on them. No, rather they seek to build people to maturity in Christ so that they can have ministries of their own. This is the work of a pastor/teacher, ‘to prepare God’s people for works of service’ (Ephesians 4.11,12). Many large churches run excellent training courses or apprentice schemes. But even apart from those, if you are under good ministry you are being prepared for works of service. And in these days there are many works of service to be done in small churches. The numbers of people going along to the big church are so great that they can spare you.

2. The small churches need you

The big churches don’t really need you. There are plenty of others. But the little churches do need you. Many small fellowships are on the brink of closure. The people there need reinforcing. They need encouragement. They need the breath of fresh air which perhaps you can bring. And there is such a thing as ‘critical mass’. From nuclear physics we learn that as you build up the amount of radioactive uranium at a certain point a chain reaction kicks off. It can be like that with a small church. Just two or three extra servant-hearted Christians and things start to happen. Things begin to turn around and instead of facing closure the church can be looking at an open door into the future.

3. Small churches give opportunities to serve

If you attend a large church which runs like a well-oiled machine, often all the key jobs in the church are filled. Indeed those key posts may not even be open to ordinary Christians. Paid staff, with counselling diplomas and formal theological training is the order of the day. Without perhaps intending to, the big church frequently invites you to simply be a passenger. Turn up on Sunday and do your homework for the fellowship group and pray, but that is about it. Meanwhile you may have a gift which is never really used. You might be someone who is able to listen and sympathetically advise folk going through troubles. But you would not be given much of an opportunity in the big church. You might have a reasonable gift of preaching or a fairly passable talent for music. However, you would not get a look in at the big church. But you would be a true God-send to a smaller congregation. So think about joining a small church. Don’t let the big church bury your talent (Matthew 25.18). Don’t become deskilled through lack of opportunity.

4. Small churches can enjoy closer fellowship

Even the larger congregations recognise the value of small groups. That is why we find cell groups, prayer groups and area fellowship groups and support groups, etc. as part of the timetable for many big churches. Close fellowship with people who we know very well is of enormous value. Here we can share our hearts, our joys and our troubles, without the whole world knowing the intimate details of our lives. Here we find friends who understand us, who will keep confidences and will pray for us. It is just not possible for everyone in a large church to have that depth of intimacy with one another. But it is in a little church. And because of that closeness there is often a richness of shared life which is very special in a congregation with lesser numbers. Sometimes quality does win out over quantity.

5. Smaller churches will stretch you more as a Christian

If you are the athletic kind or the adventurous kind you will enjoy a challenge. Great athletes only develop as they are prepared to push themselves; to take on more and more difficult tests; to run faster, to last longer, to go further. Spiritual development is similar. That is why the writer to the Hebrews uses that great athletic picture of the Christian life as a marathon race (Hebrews 12.1). Being part of a small fellowship brings a greater challenge to our Christianity. It is easy to feel encouraged when you are standing in a vast congregation. It is more difficult to have faith that God can work when you look around and there are so few of you. Our love is tested too. It is easy in a big church for problems between Christians to fester and never be resolved. People simply avoid speaking to each other, making sure their paths never really cross amid the Sunday crowds. In a small church you can’t avoid each other. You have to sort things out. So it is that your Christian graces will be stretched. I am not surprised that some of the best Christians I know are from small churches.

6. Small churches offer you a life’s work of real significance

Many people live and die but they never achieve anything of lasting significance in life. At the end of their lives they are gone but in one sense it is as if they were never here. As Christians we should have a deep desire to achieve something for God; something of eternal value. All our success in secular employment, the money we have made and the deals we have pulled off, will mean little in the light of eternity. But the work of the local church registers in the realms of ‘forever’. People get saved. The Lord gets glorified. Now obviously this is true of every church large or small. But if you are part of a small church your contribution means more. It may well be without your contribution the church would have folded. ‘What have I done with my life?’ Perhaps you will be able to answer humbly but honestly, ‘I have, under God, been instrumental in keeping the light of Christ shining in an area where otherwise it would have gone out.’ That is no mean achievement.

7.Small churches offer you the chance to confound the world

Thank God that in many places in the world today the church is growing astonishingly. One statistic from the Bible Society recently was that they estimate that 15,000 people a day in China are turning to Christ. I have a friend working in South America who says it is commonplace where he lives to see people reading their Bibles on the bus as they go to work, so many people are becoming Christians. That is great. But at present it is not like that here. In fact, the world believes that the church of Christ is about to die in the West. They label our society ‘post-Christian’. And every time a little church closes they are confirmed in their belief that Christ can be dismissed. O how good it would be for no more churches to close, but instead for them to start growing. How it would get non-Christians scratching their heads and perhaps think again about Jesus. So join a small church.

What criteria?

What kind of criteria do you use to decide which church to get involved with? Many Christians, sadly, are guided by some pretty threadbare, not to say worldly benchmarks.

Here are a few I have run into. ‘What is the music group like?’ ‘Is the church building impressive and smart?’ ‘Are there lots of fit girls or hot young men in the congregation who perhaps might make me a partner in life?’ ‘Does the pastor wear sharp clothes and have a winning smile?’ ‘Is the minister famous?’ ‘Are there so many people that I am unlikely to be asked to do anything too onerous?’ These are factors at which the apostles would be completely astonished. Yet, sadly, these things do rule the choices of many Christians.

Hopefully our criteria when considering churches are of a rather higher standard than that. ‘Is the love of Christ shown in the friendliness of the people?’ ‘Is the teaching biblical?’ ‘Is the church seeking to reach out with the gospel?’ Those are much better standards by which to judge a church. But let’s be honest, many small churches do meet those criteria. So why not join?

To be continued ...

Why join a small church? by John Benton, published by Christian Focus Publications, is available from http://www.christianfocus.com (£4.99, 64 pages, ISBN 978-1-84550-407-6). Also available from http://www.10ofthose.com (£40.00 for 40).

The book has been specially written to get those who are attracted to large churches to think again. It would be the ideal book to give away to new people looking around the area when they visit your church. It emphasises the strategic position in the community of many small churches and the positive benefits, as well as challenges, which come from being involved in a small church. The book encourages the ‘adventure of faith’ which we take on when we become involved in a little congregation.

Part 1: Reasons to take up the challenge